


let's give 'em somethin' to talk about

by WattStalf



Series: Poll Fics [46]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, PostwickShipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21693796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: Maybe they're seein' something we don't, darlin'At the age of twenty, Gloria realizes a little late that she might be in love with her best friend. She decides to try and keep that to herself, but after Hop makes an announcement, she wonders if she should act before it reallyistoo late.
Relationships: Hop/Yuuri | Gloria
Series: Poll Fics [46]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1459168
Comments: 62
Kudos: 648





	1. they think we're lovers, kept under cover

**Author's Note:**

> I love Hop so I impulsively started this cliche fluff fic that should update on Fridays.

Gloria doesn’t meet Hop until she’s eight, though they’re both born and raised in Postwick. His family originally lives clear on the other side of the small town, and the children don’t have many chances to cross paths. However, when she’s five, nearly six, it’s a big deal that the newest champion of the Pokemon league is a ten-year-old from her hometown, and Hop’s family is the talk of the town for a little while there, though Gloria is too young to really be concerned about that.

But then, three years later, the young champion begins putting his earnings towards building a new house for his family, something larger and nicer that he will rarely have the chance to visit. Early in the morning, Gloria wakes up to the sounds of construction, until the house is done and the family moves in.

Hop comes over to introduce himself right away, and from that point on, the two of them are best friends. They play outside together and talk about Pokemon and watch his brother’s matches together, and slowly begin to plan for their own go at the gym challenge, as soon as they’re old enough, as soon as they’re able to get endorsed, and it seems like the day will never come.

But then it does come, and they each go on their own journey, with Gloria emerging as the champion and Hop choosing a new direction. Still, even when they’re separate, Hop is always a part of her life. He’s the best friend that she’s ever had.

~X~

It’s been five years since Gloria claimed the title of champion; now, she’s twenty, the same age Leon was when she took it over from him. Hop has spent the last five years studying under Sonia, assisting her in her research, and has even released some successful articles on his own. Though they’re both kept busy with their respective careers, they see each other often, and still find time to meet up and battle from time to time. Gloria is still undefeated, but Hop considers her the best place for training his team, and would never dream of breaking their tradition now.

Today, they’ve both invited to what most in the Galar region consider a rather high profile event- a wedding between two gym leaders. Milo and Nessa announced their relationship just a few years after Gloria took her place as champion, and have been at the center of several rumors since, but today, they’re officially tying the knot, with several prestigious guests in the Pokemon community in attendance.

For Gloria, it is a chance to not only catch up with Hop, but also Marnie and Bede. The other two were also important rivals during her journey, and the four of them have kept in regular contact since those days, training and battling together whenever they have the chance. Marnie has come into her own as the Spikemuth gym leader, and Bede has calmed down quite a bit, though he never lost his snarky nature.

The four of them sit together during the ceremony, and spend time during the reception getting caught up. Soon enough, Sonia is waving Hop over so that he can talk to whoever she’s talking to, and Bede is pulled into a conversation with some other gym leaders, leaving Marnie and Gloria to themselves.

“You know, this is actually the first wedding I’ve been to,” Gloria admits. “At least, that I can remember. I went to one when I was a little kid, but I don’t really count that.”

“This is my first too,” Marnie replies. “Almost thought my first was gonna be my own, but I think my brother would probably die if I said I was gettin’ married.”

“Is that a concern that might come up in the near future?” she asks, curious. Marnie hasn’t mentioned anything about meeting anyone, but maybe it just hasn’t come up.

But she shakes her head and says, “No, not any time soon. And you?”

“What, me? I’ve hardly ever even thought about it,” she says, and it’s true. She’s no stranger to the concept of romance, but as for having romantic feelings for anyone...well, that is something she has absolutely no experience in.

There have been people that she’s taken a superficial interest in, thinking them good looking enough that, if she were to fall for them, she wouldn’t mind having to look at them every day for the rest of her life, but it’s never gone any deeper than that. And sometimes, when she watches romantic movies, she’ll feel that dull twang in her chest that makes is bittersweet and almost nostalgic, but she chalks that up to living vicariously through the heroine of the movie.

She just hasn’t felt the need to try and enter into a relationship with anyone that she’s met over the years. Even when she starts to feel lonely, she can always call one of her friends and feel just fine again, and whenever she starts to think someone she’s met is attractive, she loses interest before anything can ever start. It’s hard to describe it, but it always feels as though none of them can give her what she wants, as if she already has some sort of idea of what she wants to begin with.

She does her best to put this into words for Marnie, before realizing that she’s been rambling for a while about it, and that Marnie has just been stuck listening to her. Trailing off mid-sentence, she says, “...oh, sorry, didn’t mean to go on a tangent. I guess I’m just saying that I’m happy where I am. Maybe I just haven’t met anyone who’s a good fit.”

“Really?” asks Marnie. She’s looked confused throughout Gloria’s entire speech, but now, Gloria realizes that she isn’t confused because of the overly complicated explanation. “I always thought…”

“Thought what?” she asks, and her pulse quickens, though she isn’t sure what she has to be nervous about.

“I dunno, just always seemed like you had someone, just didn’t know if you were ever gonna make it official.”

“I really don’t,” Gloria says, her heartbeat loud in her ears. She remembers the brief crushes- if she can even call the bare bones physical attraction that she always immediately writes off as “not what she wants” as crushes- that she’s had over the years, and she swallows hard. Why she’s thinking about Leon right now, and how she’s thought, a few times, that he had almost the right look, if she had a type, she has no idea. Absolutely no idea, just like she has no idea why she feels like her hands are shaking.

“Sorry, sorry, shouldn’t have assumed. You two were always so close, but I guess just cos you grew up together?” asks Marnie, and Gloria looks away from her, looking to where he was called off to.

He’s standing there, talking to Sonia about something, and when he catches her gaze, he gives her a wide grin as he waves at her, and it clicks into place. It clicks into place several years too late, proving just how dense she’s been about the whole thing, and Gloria gives a slight nod to acknowledge his wave.

Marnie, who hasn’t noticed her looking at him, says, “A lot of us thought you an’ Hop were gonna end up together, is all.”

A fine time for Gloria to realize that she’s in love with her best friend of more than a decade.


	2. now i'm convinced that i'm going under

Gloria is quick to change the subject after that, redirecting Marnie to other topics, and not long later, Bede rejoins them, and eventually, Hop. At that point, Gloria makes her excuses, saying that it’s late and she really needs to get back to Wyndon, giving the couple her best wishes.

Hop stops her just before she leaves, saying, “Hey, I’ve got something big coming up. I’ll call you later, alright?”

“Of course! Sorry I couldn’t stay longer,” she replies, surprised that she can still talk to him like everything is normal.

“The champion is always busy, I know how it is,” he says. “I’ll see you soon!”

Have his smiles always made her chest hurt this much?

~X~

Once she’s alone in her apartment, she can properly freak out about this, where no one other than her oblivious Pokemon can see her lay face down on her bed, groaning into her pillows. This isn’t real, is it? Was it just the romantic atmosphere of the wedding, the perfect timing of Marnie bringing up Hop, the way the lighting hit him when he waved at her from across the room?

Or does she really have feelings for him?

The problem is that it would make perfect sense if she  _ did _ have feelings for him. They’ve been close since they were eight years old, far too young to notice a spark like that, and from that point on, it was always just Hop. Of course she was happier to spend time with him than most people, he was her best friend. And, sure, she always missed him like crazy during their separate journeys, and would get excited when she ran into him on the road.

Defeating him in the championship finals was painful and watching him come into his own after that, discovering a new dream to pursue, was almost more rewarding than achieving her own dream, but she never considered those signs that she might like him like  _ that _ . He was always just Hop, always a part of her life, always comfortable, and she’s never sought out a relationship because she’s always been content.

She never had to feel lonely, because if she did, talking to Hop always cheered her right up.

No one ever came close to what she wanted in a relationship because, though she was too dense to realize it, she already had what she wanted. They’ve never been in a relationship, but Hop has been a constant in her life, leaving her with a feeling of contentment that made anyone else seem unappealing by comparison. And when she reflects on those brief flashes on interest she’s had based on appearance, all the way up to his older brother, she realizes, more often than not, it was someone who bore some sort of resemblance to Hop.

Because she totally does have a type, and it’s Hop. Leon was  _ almost right _ because he looks enough like Hop without being Hop that she could take notice of his looks without it being too weird. The more she pieces it together, the more she understands that she’s always had it bad for Hop, and just done a very, very good job of keeping it buried and making excuses for herself.

Now that’s all over, and she gets hardly any sleep that night, unable to stop thinking about him. Memories of their childhood and of the past few years will come up randomly, as if to prove to her how obvious it’s always been, probably to everyone except her, and possibly also Hop. If anyone else would be oblivious, it would be him, and she thinks he would have said something by now if even he could tell that she had feelings for him.

She can’t ever tell him. That’s the only coherent thought she has after her mostly sleepless night; she can never tell Hop about this. After all these years of being the best of friends, of being neighbors and rivals, she can’t just call him up and say, “By the way, I think I love you.” Naturally, if something were going to happen between them, it would have by now. They’ve had plenty of opportunities over the years, so that is a pretty clear sign that Hop is happy with how things are now.

So she won’t tell him and won’t mess up what they already have going on. They’re such good friends, and she wouldn’t want to do anything to put an end to that. Of course, even if  _ he _ never finds out, now  _ she _ knows, and she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do about that. She’ll have to keep pretending like everything is normal, but beyond that, she has to find a way to make this stop. If that’s even possible after all this time.

She really hopes that it is, because she isn’t sure if she can survive on so little sleep, and she isn’t sure if her heart can withstand jumping halfway up her throat every time she thinks about Hop’s smile.

~X~

He calls her the next afternoon, just as he promised he would, and still she panics when she sees the call coming through, wondering if she should even answer it. But of course she should, it’s still  _ Hop _ , who she hangs out with and talks to all the time. If it’s going to be like this, then she really doesn’t know if she can do it.

“Hello?” she asks, when she finally takes the call.

“Gloria! Hey, remember last night when I said I had something big to tell you about?” he asks.

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“Sonia’s throwing a big party for me at the end of next week! Ah, apparently I got noticed by some pretty important people for my independent research, so…well, it’s a lot going on!”

“Hop, that’s amazing!” says Gloria.

“You think so?” She can vividly see his expression right now, grinning as he tries to act humble. “Anyway, I really hope you can come. Sonia’s gonna send the invitations, but I wanted to tell you first.”

“I’ll be there,” she says, before she can stop herself. But of course she’ll be there, even if, after agreeing, she wishes she’d made some excuse. She doesn’t really want to avoid him, and wouldn’t miss something that important to him for the world. No matter what, she needs to get over these feelings, because she can’t end up avoiding Hop over them.

“Brilliant, I’ll see you then!”

“See you then.”

As soon as she hangs up, she finds herself calling Marnie. She doesn’t necessarily think Marnie will have much input on the subject, but she doesn’t have anyone else she can call about this. Like hell she’s going to vent to Bede about her romantic problems, and it would feel weird asking Sonia for advice where her assistant is concerned. So that only leaves Marnie, who just accused her of having feelings for Hop to begin with.

“I think you were right,” Gloria says, as soon as she answers.

“Right about...what?”

“Last night, about Hop, I think...I think I do…”

“Oh.” Marnie pauses for a moment before saying, “Yeah, I know.”

“B-but I said…”

“Yeah, but I didn’t believe you.” She says it so simply that all Gloria can do is groan. “So, what’s the problem?”

“How do you not see the problem?”

“The two of you already act like you’re together. Probably wouldn’t be too hard to make that official.”

“Wh- no! We’re just friends, we’ve always been just friends! Hop isn’t...he doesn’t...we’re just not  _ like _ that,” she insists. It must be so easy for Marnie to just casually give her advice that could ruin her entire life like that, considering it doesn’t affect her either way.

Marnie pauses again, as if in thought, and says, “Alright, well. Guess ya know the situation better than I do. So, then, what’s your plan?”

“There isn’t any plan, I don’t think. Just...trying to forget about it, so I don’t mess anything up.”

She sighs. “If that’s what you’re gonna do, then good luck, I guess. Still, I don’t think it would happen like you think it would. At least think about that a little.”

Gloria can only thank her for the advice, but as far as actually considering it? There’s just no way she could risk everything she already has with Hop over this. Losing him is a lot worse than quietly pining for him, she’s sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is available, and will be available here next Friday!


	3. i feel so foolish, i never noticed

As much as she is dreading having to pretend like everything is normal and hide her now incredibly prevalent feelings, time still manages to drag on, and she feels like the day of the party will never arrive. Though Gloria would assume it would be upon her too quickly, since she was dreading it, she supposes she’s more excited about getting to see Hop and hearing his big news than she is worried about anything. Seriously, her feelings are entirely out of control.

She has a feeling she knows what the news might be about, if all the recent talk of his success is anything to go off of. He’s around the same age as Sonia was when she finally began working on her own, so this might be a graduation party of sorts, though Gloria isn’t sure what Hop will be doing after he “graduates.” Likely still working out of Sonia’s lab for some time, but as more of a partner than an assistant, or perhaps he’ll begin putting in the work to open his own research lab somewhere else.

Perhaps in Wyndon…

Gloria quickly shakes her head to banish that thought. Yes, it would be nice to live even closer to Hop, not that their busy schedules would probably allow for much more time than they can manage now, but she  _ knows _ better than to let her mind wander in that direction. No matter what he does, she needs to think of it as completely separate from her and her feelings, and just be happy for him.

She wonders if she should bring a gift, but since he never mentioned that on the phone and Sonia didn’t mention it in the invitation, she decides against it. Perhaps later on, after his announcement is properly made, she’ll get him something to congratulate him that she can give him the next time they see each other. Which will be completely platonic, with absolutely no strings or expectations attached, because Hop is her best friend, and nothing is going to change that.

~X~

The crowd at the party is similar to that of the wedding, with a few less notable gym leaders and none of the relatives and friends that Gloria had no idea who they were. At the very least, the crowd at the party that she ends up hanging out with is the same as who she spent the wedding reception with, though Hop is already so busy talking to people she doesn’t recognize from the get-go that he doesn’t even notice when she comes in. She is both disappointed and relieved, and it isn’t long before both Marnie and Bede end up at her side.

There isn’t nearly as much to get caught up on, since they all saw each other pretty recently, so they just make idle conversation, waiting for something to happen. Gloria isn’t sure if she wants Hop to notice her and come talk to her, or if it’s better to just watch him from a distance, but she definitely can’t stop watching him. Though she tries to remain focused on the conversation at hand, she finds her gaze drifting to him over and over again, and a few times, Marnie catches her eye when she looks back, and she knows that she  _ knows _ .

But then Hop does notice her, waving her over to where he stands with Sonia. Gloria hesitates for a moment, before saying, “Um, I’m gonna…”

“Go talk to him already,” Marnie urges, and Gloria nods. She shouldn’t have to force her legs to move, she shouldn’t feel so weak as she steps forward. It’s just  _ Hop _ , but he grins at her as she crosses the room and she feels like her legs might give out on her at any moment.

“I’m so glad you’re here! Didn’t see you come in, or I would have come right over!” he says. “Listen, I’ve got something big, I wanted you to know that I’m-”

A hand claps down on his shoulder, and Gloria looks over to see who has just interrupted their conversation. “You weren’t even gonna say hi to your own brother?” asks Leon, and Hop turns around to face him.

“I didn’t know you were here! Maybe if you’d bothered to show up on time, Lee,” he scolds, and Leon gives him a sheepish smile.

“Well, I had a little trouble finding the address…”

“You’ve been here like a million times!”

Beside her, Sonia laughs and says, “They really never change, no matter how much they grow up. But Hop’s really gonna make something of himself. I’m so excited for him!”

Gloria considers asking her what his announcement is, considering he was just about to tell her ahead of time, but decides to let it be Hop’s news. However, Leon soon dominates all of his attention, and she cuts in to tell him that she’s going to go back to Bede and Marnie, and that they can talk later. As it is, Leon takes up so much of his time that Sonia is soon dragging Hop away before getting everyone’s attention.

“Alright, everyone!” she calls. “I’m sure you’ve all figured out that this little get together was to congratulate Hop and celebrate him stepping into the role of a Pokemon professor!” She starts applauding, and soon everyone in the room has followed suit. Once the crowd has simmered down again, she continues, “But that isn’t all! Our new Professor Hop has an announcement of his own to make!”

“Aw, Sonia, it’s really not all the grand,” he says, seeming a little flustered to have all the attention suddenly on him, despite this being his thing. Gloria feels a tug in her chest, seeing her childhood friend with everyone in the room waiting for his announcement, everyone in the room here to celebrate him following his dreams. She is proud of him and strangely jealous of everyone who gets to share in this moment, though she knows that feeling is irrational.

“Don’t try playing all modest! You’re the one who wanted to tell everyone like this!” Sonia replies, and he gives her a guilty grin, before turning back to the crowd.

“A research project I’ve been trying to get off the ground got picked up by a group in the Unova region! So, pretty soon, I’m going to head out there to get started!” says Hop, and it takes a moment for the news to really sink in. “I’ll be there for about two months, if everything goes to plan.”

Two months…

Hop has family in Unova, she knows that. He’s got this bigshot cousin, and his family has gone on several vacations to visit in the time that she’s known him. It’s far away, but it won’t be entirely unfamiliar to him, and if it’s to help him break into his career, it’s going to be a great opportunity for him. She knows all of that, and as she watches his family immediately rush over to talk to him, she tells herself that she should be up there too, congratulating her best friend and getting more details.

But instead, all she can think about is that Hop will be leaving the region for two months at minimum, and she won’t be able to see him at all during that time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, chapter 4 is available elsewhere and will be available here next week!


	4. dreamin' 'bout you every night, thinkin' 'bout you every day

She ends up back with Marnie and Bede, rather than going directly up to Hop, still not quite over the surprise of his announcement. His announcement that shouldn’t be that big of a deal, considering he won’t even be gone for that long, but Gloria is still hung up on the fact that that means he  _ will _ be gone, and that she won’t get to see him whenever she wants to. For those several weeks, he won’t want to meet up to battle, she won’t be able to drop in on him and Sonia, and she won’t be able to wonder if he might randomly call her up to say he’s coming by, and they should hang out like they used to.

All of these were things she took for granted before she realized that, subconsciously, she was treating this like a romantic relationship all along, and things that she took for granted before she found out there was a possibility that Hop might not always be around for things like that. Hop has always been around, ever since she met him, and now, no matter how long he’s going to be gone, he’s going to be  _ gone _ . Even if she hadn’t just managed to figure out that that she has deeper feelings for him, she thinks this would have hit her pretty hard.

“Pretty big news,” Marnie says, likely picking up on Gloria’s mixed feelings and the fact that her attempt to smile is not, in fact, her best attempt. “But it’s gonna fly by, I’m sure.”

She wants to tell Marnie not to talk about it like it’s a big deal, and play it off like she doesn’t care at all. After all, Bede is still right there, and she doesn’t feel like exposing her feelings to anyone else, but she finds that all she can do is nod, no longer able to force herself to smile about it.

“I don’t know about that,” Bede says. “Hop has changed a lot since he was a kid, you know? I bet a couple months in Unova are going to change a lot too. It wouldn’t surprise me if he met someone there, so you might want to watch out for that.”

The look on his face both says that he definitely already knows that Gloria has a thing for Hop- was he another who knew before her?!- and that he’s also definitely messing with her, because that’s just how their friendship is. Though their relationship when they were rivals was incredibly strained and often filled with similar goading, now they are close enough that messing with each other is just how they show that they’re friends.

Still, that isn’t what Gloria wants to hear right now, and even if he doesn’t mean it, she can’t help but wonder if it’s true. Irrationally, she already begins to wonder about the mystery woman he’ll meet while staying in another region, and what it is about her that he’ll like, and how easy it might be for him to forget about home if he has someone there. If his work really takes off there and he meets someone he wants to be with, he might move away permanently, she realizes, and just like that, a tasteless joke from Bede sends her running through scenario after scenario where Hop completely leaves her behind.

And who could blame if he did? Just because she has been content being single all these years because she had a best friend that made her feel completely fulfilled, that’s no reason to expect Hop to feel the same way. He’s probably lonely, and deserves to meet somebody and be happy with them. Maybe his nonexistent girlfriend in Unova is what he really needs, and she shouldn’t interfere.

Gloria makes vague and quiet additions to the conversation that Marnie tactfully steers away from Bede’s “warning”, but all the while, her mind is still running through scenarios, while she tries to prepare herself for the outcome of something that hasn’t even started yet. She wishes desperately that she could back to the time before she realized her feelings, so that she could spend this time just being a little sad that she wouldn’t get to see her best friend as much, forcing herself to put on a brave face and be happy for him, because she knows it’s for the best.

More than anything else right now, she wants to be able to do that, rather than lose herself in the irrational fear that Hop is going to forget about her if she doesn’t act quickly. But act how? She can’t just walk up to him and make him promise to never fall in love, and to always come back home, and always keep things the exact same, just for her sake. That would be almost the same as confessing to him, for one thing, and for another, she can’t expect anything like that from him,  _ especially _ if she doesn’t actually confess.

Should she confess to him?

The question comes to mind right when he finally manages to break away from her family and come over to talk to her again, with Marnie and Bede scattering before she can stop them. Alone with Hop, she tries to bring her fake smile back, so that he can’t tell she’s spent the last ten or so minutes imagining herself as a guest at his wedding to some woman neither of them have ever met before.

“Sorry I got pulled away like that, I was really trying to tell Sonia before she made me go up in front of everyone,” he says.

“No, that’s fine,” Gloria replies. “That’s just...I don’t know, this is all really sudden.”

“It’s very last minute, that’s for sure. I’ve been in such a rush getting everything ready that I’ve hardly had time for anything, and nothing was completely final until a few days ago. We’ve been talking about it for a while, but I didn’t want to tell anyone exactly what it was when there was still a chance the whole thing could fall flat,” he explains.

“It’s going to be weird not having you around,” she says, because she can’t help herself. “I’m really going to miss you.”

Hop grins and says, “Aw, come on, it’s not gonna be that bad. It’s only for a little while, and you’ll be so busy back home you won’t even notice I’m gone! Maybe you’ll even be happier to not have me bugging you all the time!”

“I don’t know about that,” is all that she says. She doesn’t want to say anything else that might make him think that she doesn’t want him to do this, even though that’s exactly what she’s thinking. Hop is happy and she needs to be happy for him, rather than letting her selfishness get in the way. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, something that she would never want him to pass up just because she doesn’t want him to meet someone else far away.

Soon enough, he’s pulled away by someone else, and she doesn’t linger at the party for long, returning home with a lot on her mind. She can’t expect him to wait for her when he doesn’t even know how she feels, which once again leaves her wondering...should she risk everything and tell him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, chapter 5 is available elsewhere and will be available here next Friday!


	5. we laugh just a little too loud, we stand just a little too close

Hop insists that they spend as much time hanging out as they can before he has to leave. He says that he has to balance time between his family and finishing up last minute work, but that he wants to see Gloria as much as he can as well. When he calls her and tells her this, mentioning that she’s one of the people he’s going to miss most of all, her heart skips a beat. How on earth did she never notice how important he was to her before now?

Of course she can’t say no to something like that, not that she really wants to. There is still that same part of her that wants to avoid him just because being around him suddenly makes her nervous, but she continues to do what she can to ignore that part of her. He’s still  _ Hop _ , and she still likes hanging out with him, even if she now notices how unbearably cute his smile is, and even if she feels more compelled to sit too close to him, to rest her head on his shoulder…

She manages to keep her impulses to herself, and they take the time to all the things they like to do together. It isn’t hard to tell why she was able to subconsciously project enough of a relationship onto their friendship to always feel romantically fulfilled, now that she realizes that’s exactly what she was doing all these years. When they’re out together, just the two of them, she can imagine what it must feel like to have a boyfriend, and can imagine why people make such a big deal out of dating, if this is what a date would feel like.

Hop has always been fun to be around, and everything they do together is fun, be it battling or getting food or just walking around and talking about things. She is able to relax, the more time she spends with him, and steadily take her mind off of her panic regarding her feelings for him. When she isn’t as nervous, the fact that she’s in love with him and knows it now honestly makes it even better. She feels warm when she’s with him, and giddy, never wanting their time together to end. They aren’t dating, and they’ve never  _ been _ dating, but this feels so close to it that she can’t help but enjoy every minute of it.

But in the back of her mind, there’s that nagging voice reminding her that he’s leaving soon, and she dreads the day that these fun times will come to an end. All the while, she knows that, if she is going to confess before he leaves, she needs to do it soon. So many times when they hang out, it seems to be the perfect moment to stop him and say that she has something important they need to discuss, but every time that she calls out to him, determined to go through with it this time, he turns and smiles and she loses her nerve entirely.

If he were to reject her, that smile would fade and his bright eyes would dull a bit as he gave her a pitying look and said that even though he appreciated it, even though she’s very important to him, he has only ever seen her as a friend, and he doesn’t think that is ever going to change. When he smiles at her, eager to hear what she has to say, she just makes something up, too afraid of rejection to come out and tell him the truth.

~X~

“Hop actually had to step out,” Sonia says, looking up from where she’s working. Gloria has just stepped into her lab, coming to see Hop again. The days are passing by quickly, with less and less time for them to spend together, so he had asked her to meet up with him here.

“Oh, did he?” she asks, before pulling out her phone. Sure enough, there’s a text from him, apologizing and promising that he will be back as soon as possible, and to just wait for him there. “Well, is it alright if I wait around for him?”

“Of course,” says Sonia, “you know I don’t mind having you here. He really shouldn’t be very long.” After a pause, she adds, “You’ve been hanging around each other a lot lately, huh?”

“Not too much more than usual,” Gloria says.

“I don’t know. I mean, you two are close, always have been, but normally you’re both so busy with everything. Lately, you’ve been taking whatever time you can to see him, right? I know he’s been doing that,” she replies, and Gloria looks down. It’s true that she’s been ducking out more often than normal, turning down potential interviews and exhibition matches, knowing that she can do that sort of thing any time, but her time with Hop is very limited.

“We’re just enjoying what time we have before he has to go,” she finally says, hoping that Sonia won’t look further into it.

But Sonia looks up at her with a smile and says, “You’re going to miss him a lot, aren’t you?”

“W-well, he’s my best friend, and we’ve always…”

“Come on, Gloria, it’s just the two of us. I’ve been dying to know for years now, ever since we met! You like him, don’t you?” What is it with everyone knowing about it except for her? Was it really so obvious? Is she really that stupid about her own feelings?

“I…”

“I always thought you might. Truth be told, I’ve been waiting with bated breath for one of you to make the first move! I had hoped since you were spending so much time together that maybe you’d finally made some progress after all this time,” she teases. “Aren’t you going to do something about that before he has to go?”

“I don’t know about that,” Gloria finally says, deciding not to waste her time denying what Sonia already has completely figured out. “We’ve always been just friends, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to try and change that now.”

“Why not? You won’t know if you don’t try, right?”

“And what if it doesn’t work out? He’s my best friend, I don’t want him to stop talking to me or anything like that,” she explains, and Sonia shakes her head.

“I doubt Hop would stop talking to you over anything, least of all something like that! But I don’t think you’d have to worry about that either way,” Sonia says, giving her a knowing grin. “I can’t speak for him or anything, but you two  _ are _ awfully close...don’t you think this is the next natural step?”

“I really don’t know about that.” As much as she wants to believe her, she can’t help but think that Sonia is just saying that to make her feel better. It’s easy for someone on the outside to look in and say it’s no problem for her to confess, but it isn’t like Sonia has ever had to confess to any of  _ her _ best friends.

“I can’t make you do anything about it, but promise to think about what I said for a little bit? Even if you don’t want to tell him before he leaves, think on it. But, personally, I would say not to wait until he’s gone, because then you’ll really miss him.”

Gloria promises to think about it, but she doesn’t need to. She hardly thinks about anything else lately, but thinking is pretty much all she can do. She still hasn’t reached a conclusion, and Sonia’s urging doesn’t do much to sway her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, the next chapter is available elsewhere and will be available here next week!


	6. i'm hopin' that you feel the same way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I got the idea for this story, this chapter was the first thing I knew with absolute certainty

With Sonia’s advice still ringing in her head, along with everything her friends have said, Gloria comes close to revealing her feelings, but always backs off before it’s too late, and Hop remains oblivious. The last few days together are fun, but the dread now hangs over her, as she knows that it is almost at an end. All the while, she reminds herself that it will just be a few months, nothing major and nothing worth getting this sad over.

But the frequent and irrational worry that Hop might forget all about her persists, and knowing that she can call him doesn’t do much to ease that.

And before she knows it, the day is upon them. They hang out the entire day before, and Hop tells her what time he’s going to be leaving. The airport he’s departing from isn’t far from where she lives, and he says, “I wasn’t going to ask anyone to come see me off, since I’m having a little going away party with my family tonight, but if you aren’t busy, you can. Since it isn’t too far out of the way for you!”

She should probably go, if Hop is going out of his way to invite her when he wasn’t planning on inviting anyone else. It isn’t out of the way for her, and she doesn’t have anything planned for the next day, having kept her schedule pretty clear just to spend time with him, so she should definitely go. But she finds herself shaking her head sadly, saying, “I would if I could, but I had something come up tomorrow that I really can’t get out of.”

Hop’s face falls for only a moment before he’s smiling again. “That’s fine! Like I said, I wasn’t planning on having anyone come. You can’t keep dodging your responsibilities to hang out with me, you know!”

If only he knew.

But now, the morning after, the day of his departure, she wishes she hadn’t said no. She wishes that she could be there to see him off, but at the same time, knows exactly why she immediately turned him down. It feels like the perfect last minute opportunity to tell him how she feels, the perfectly cliche backdrop to what she has been building to the past couple weeks, and the actual worst time to spring that on him. Why would she want to tell him right before he got on a plane to another region?

It puts a lot of pressure on him, for one thing, and even if that weren’t the case, if he were to just come out and reject her then, that would just put a damper on all the fun they had leading up until now. More than a damper, really, but she’s trying not to think about how much it would crush her if he  _ did _ reject her.

Hop has been a part of her life for so long now. It’s going to be strange to not be able to see him, but she supposes she’ll get used to it. When they were kids, when they lived so close to each other that they could show up spur of the moment, knocking on the other’s door, they took it for granted. Their gym challenge and the different directions their lives took them in meant that they couldn’t just drop in on the other whenever they wanted, but they got used to that. Gloria knows that she will get used to this as well.

Even if he were to decide to stay there, she would get used to it. Even if he were to fall in love with some stranger and never come back home and forget all about her, she could get used to it.

She repeats that thought to herself only a few times before she checks the time. His flight shouldn’t have left yet; if she leaves now, if she really hurries, then she should be able to catch him before it’s too late. She doesn’t waste another second, getting up quickly to put her shoes on and leave.

Gloria probably  _ could _ get used to all of that, but she doesn’t  _ want _ to, not if she doesn’t have to. And if he rejects her and if he doesn’t want to talk to her ever again, then she’ll just have to get used to  _ that _ instead, but at least she can say that she tried. She’s wasted enough time, denying her feelings and then making excuses, but she doesn’t want to send Hop off without him at least knowing how she feels about him.

The brief trip to the airport is spent rehearsing what to say to him when she sees him, and all she can do is hope that she catches him in time, and that he didn’t take off early for some reason. She’s cutting it close, she knows that, but regretting her choices now won’t change the fact that she made the stupid decision to not accompany him to the airport in the first place.

By the time she gets there, she knows that she doesn’t have enough time to make her way through the confession she has planned in her mind, but still, she texts Hop, asking where he is. After thirty agonizing seconds, he replies by telling her he’s about to go into the terminal, and won’t be able to text her for very long before he has to turn his phone off. That’s the only answer she needs, and before she knows it, she’s taken off running, as fast as she can.

She’s pretty sure that she hears people muttering as she goes past, saying things like, “Isn’t that the champion?” but she couldn’t care less about being recognized by now. The only thing she cares about is getting there before it is too late, before Hop has disappeared into the terminal, out of contact until he lands.

Finally, she catches sight of him, at the last possible second. She shoves through the crowds, going as far as she is allowed to without a ticket, and, without any concern for all the other people in the airport, she calls out to him, “Hop, wait!”

Upon hearing his name, he turns, confused, but he sees her, their eyes meeting. He says something that she can’t quite hear, but it looks like he’s saying her name. The others behind him are pushing past him now and ushering him forward; she doesn’t have enough time for this at all. She has to say what she came to say, blunt and simple.

“Hop! I’m in love with you!” she shouts, as loud as she possibly can.

She’s only vaguely aware of all the eyes on her after she confesses, more concerned with the way Hop’s eyes go wide as he processes what she’s said. And he opens his mouth and he shouts something back at her, but she can’t hear him over the rest of the crowd, who have grown considerably more excited now that they’ve figured out what is going on. Well, except for the people trying to get around him, as they’ve just gotten their last call to board the flight. With no choice other than to miss his flight, Hop finally moves forward until he is out of sight, and Gloria has absolutely no idea what he’s said.

_ Call me as soon as you can _ .

After she sends that text, she has to fight her way through the crowd who have taken quite an interest in the champion’s love life in the past couple minutes. She isn’t even able to try to check her phone until she’s outside, but there isn’t a response from him.

Now, she can only go home and wait until he lands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, the next chapter is available elsewhere and will be available here next week!


	7. people are talkin', talkin' 'bout people

Of course, at least one person got the idea to start taking a video when they saw the champion herself tearing through the airport like a madwoman, and of course, they kept filming right through to the end of it all. And, of course, they knew the potential a video like that had, so of course, they sold it to a news station and soon enough, every major news outlet in the region had picked up on it.

Gloria doesn’t find out about this at first, though. At first, she just focuses on getting home, and waiting for Hop to hopefully call her. She looks up his flight number so she can keep refreshing and see if he’s landed, even though she knows it will be a long time before that happens. Other than that, she just waits, stressing about her confession, about what he could possibly say, about what this will change, and about the fact that she won’t be able to see him in person for a very long time.

When her phone rings, she jumps. It couldn’t possibly be Hop, could it? He isn’t supposed to have his phone on right now, and she knows that he hasn’t landed yet, but she still grabs her phone with shaking hands, only to sigh in disappointment when she sees that it’s Leon. Not the brother she was hoping for, so she answers a little dejectedly, with, “What do you want?”

“That’s no way to answer the phone!” Leon scolds her in a teasing voice. “Especially when you’re talking to your future brother!”

At that, Gloria tenses. Did Hop somehow tell him before his flight took off, rather than taking the time to respond to her? That could be a really bad sign, and she slowly asks, “What do you mean by that?”

“So. Hop, huh? My little brother? I mean, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming since day one, but that sure was something!”

“Leon, please, just tell me directly,” she says. She’s worried about where he got his information from and irritated to be on the phone at all, when she’s waiting for someone else to call. Never mind the fact that it will be a few hours yet before Hop can actually call her.

“Everyone’s seen it by now, Gloria, that’s what happens when you do stuff like that in public. I mean, I get alerts whenever there’s a story about either of you since I’m such a big fan and all, but this one is big. I’m pretty sure everyone in Galar has seen it by now,” he says. “I wonder if the story’s broken anywhere else? Iris will tease Hop like mad when he gets there, I bet!”

“What story? You don’t mean…” Her eyes go wide, and she hears Leon take in a sharp breath on the other end of the line.

“Oh, so you haven’t seen it yet? Well, to put it simply, someone got a recording of your grand confession and it’s a slow news day, so…” He doesn’t have to finish the sentence; now, Gloria knows exactly where he found out about her confession. Leon, along with the rest of the region, got to watch the replay.

Groaning, she says, “Well, that’s just great.”

“Hey, come on, it could be a lot worse! In terms of Pokemon league scandals, we both know there have been a lot worse than a wholesome love confession.” He snickers, and she thinks that if he were there, she might punch him. “So, as I was saying. Hop? You love my baby brother? Little Hop? I knew it, yeah, but now that-”

She hangs up on him without another word. He’s just doing this to be irritating, and ordinarily, she would get a laugh out of his antics, but she finds that his antics are a lot less amusing when they center around something so important to her. But again she has to wonder how dense she was, if even someone like  _ Leon _ could tell that she had feelings for Hop, long before she did.

Though she can’t bring herself to watch the video of her cliche confession, she does check out some of the articles, her stomach in knots as she reads the hastily written stories about her sudden confession, and the apparent rumors that have surrounded her and Hop since they were children. Through the comments, she discovers some very vocal supporters, who have apparently wanted them to get together since their gym challenge days, and even a jealous few who would rather the champion take notice of them. There are even a few that make  _ her _ jealous, talking about how they’ve always thought Hop was cute, and that he could do better.

It’s hard to turn away even though she knows that this isn’t making the situation, but then her phone rings, Leon’s contact photo covering the screen while she’s in the middle of reading. She considers letting it go to voicemail, tired of dealing with him, but then she thinks that he might be calling to apologize to her, so she decides to give him a chance and answer.

“Hello?”

“Hop!” he replies in a high-pitched voice that she knows is supposed to be an imitation of her. “Hop, wait! I’m in love with you!”

Gloria immediately hangs up on him again.

~X~

Unfortunately for her, Leon is not the only one who decides to call her and get the story directly from her. Her mother is soon after, teasing and pestering her about it, saying that she always knew there was something between them, and Gloria is only able to get her off the phone when another call comes through, promising to talk to her later, after she hears from Hop. The next call is from Marnie, who simply congratulates her on addressing her feelings, but doesn’t bug her much outside of also wanting to hear the eventual outcome.

Gloria is glad to get off the phone with her and keep waiting it out, but then Bede of all people calls her, and when she admits that it was his remark about Hop finding someone else in Unova that encouraged her, he laughs.

“You honestly took that seriously?” he asks. “I don’t think Hop’s capable of looking at anyone other than you.”

Gloria isn’t sure what to say to any of that, from the fact that her panic was based on something Bede didn’t mean at all to the fact that he also believes her feelings are fully requited. In the end, she just puts a stop to the conversation there, which he doesn’t seem to mind, and that gives her just a few more minutes to herself before Sonia calls her.

“You really pushed it to the last second, didn’t you?” she says, before Gloria can even finish her greeting. “I mean, I’m definitely proud of you for getting it out there, but at the airport? You couldn’t have had a nice, private date to tell him how you feel?”

“I tried!” she protests. “We did a lot of stuff alone together, and I just...I didn’t do it, and so I had to…”

Sighing, Sonia says, “At least you did it, I guess. Still, you didn’t have to make regional headlines like that. It’s a good thing Hop is so popular, even after all these years, because at least most people are supportive of you two going out.”

“We aren’t going out, I just…”

“Wait, he hasn’t said anything back yet?!” She can imagine the look of surprise on Sonia’s face.

“He had to get on the plane! I’m waiting for him to land so he can call me, and then I guess we’ll talk things out,” she explains.

“Then what are you doing talking to me? I want all the details as soon as you have them, but I’m not hogging your line anymore!” With that, Sonia abruptly hangs up, and Gloria isn’t mad that she doesn’t say goodbye. Rather, she’s just glad that  _ someone _ understands the importance of the situation.

Even if she still has a couple hours to wait for Hop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, the next chapter is available elsewhere and will be available here in a week!


	8. you'd act so nervous, could you be fallin' for me?

Hop’s plane doesn’t land until very late into the night, but Gloria stays up and waits for it anyway. Well, it isn’t as if she has any real hope of sleeping right now, all things considered, so it isn’t difficult for her to stay up, ignoring any calls or messages from anyone else who might be curious about her confession to Hop. She scrolls through more and more of the articles that come out in the time since the story broke, reading through comments.

Just like before, there are plenty of people who continue to go on about how they always knew, and what a cute couple she and Hop make, and she wishes she could tell them directly that there isn’t any  _ couple _ yet, did they not notice him going through the terminal without having a chance to respond to her confession? People really shouldn’t assume things just because it would make for a happy ending. And, of course, she doesn’t want to get her hopes up either.

Also like before, there are the comments from her fans complaining that they would be better for her, despite never meeting her, and even a few that talk about how they always wanted to see her with Marnie or Bede or Raihan or the recently married Nessa, or even the older brother of the very man she just proclaimed her love to. Honestly, where do people get these ideas from? At least she isn’t the only person who didn’t think there was anything going on between her and Hop, and these people are even more dense if they thought she was going to get with  _ Leon _ , of all people.

Not that he’s  _ bad _ , or anything, he’s just...Leon.

Of course there are commenters that still talk about their own crushes on Hop, or their hopes for his relationship status, and Gloria skips over these to avoid further jealousy. This doesn’t do much to help pass the time, but it is the only thing that she can focus on, besides repeatedly refreshing the page that tells her if his plane has landed yet. At some point, it must start lagging, however, because she thinks he’s still in the air when her phone starts to ring, his contact picture popping up and causing her heart to leap into her throat.

She’s shaking so much that she can hardly press the screen to answer it, but she manages somehow, her voice sounding strangled as she says, “Hello?”

“Gloria,” he breathes, and he sounds very out of breath, like he’s been running. Like maybe he’s been trying to find a good place to call her as fast as he could. “Gloria, I...of course I love you too!”

“Hop?!” There’s no way for her to have misheard him, but still she has herself convinced that she shouldn’t get her hopes up.

“I’ve always loved you, you should know that! Since...well, since we met, practically!” he shouts, but she doesn’t mind that he’s yelling directly into the phone. “I just...I didn’t think...I mean...why  _ today _ ?”

“Because...because!” she protests, not sure why she feels like she might cry. Is it because it’s finally sinking in that Hop just told her that he loves her too? “Because I didn’t want to tell you anymore than you wanted to tell me, apparently! But you were going away, and what if you met someone else and forgot all about me?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that? How could I forget  _ you _ , Gloria? You’re my best friend! Which, by the way, is the only reason I never told you before.”

“Yeah, well, same here! A-and, I don’t know, what if you did? That’s all I could think about, so I decided to just...tell you! I just didn’t get there fast enough…” she mumbles.

“I thought you didn’t want to come, I mean...I thought you were too busy. We’ve spent so much time together, you could have told me then!” says Hop.

“I didn’t want to lose you right before you left. If you didn’t feel the same and it made everything weird, then I wouldn’t get to see you  _ and _ you wouldn’t talk to me! Imagine how bad that would be!” she protests. “But then...if you met someone else, that would feel bad too. So, at the last minute…”

“At the  _ very _ last minute,” he replies. “Gloria, I am in love with you. I’ve hardly been able to sit still since you told me, I wanted to call you so bad. I-I wanted to fly right back and tell you face to face, but that would have taken even longer.”

“Yeah, probably not a good idea.”

“Truth be told, I almost missed my flight for you, but I was afraid the earful I would get from you would make you forget all about confessing to me,” he admits. “Not to mention the fact that Sonia might actually kill me for it.”

Gloria laughs, and realizes then that, just like that, they’re talking like they always do. But things aren’t the same as they were before. He loves her, and she knows it, and he knows that she loves him.  _ Hop loves her. _ She holds the phone close to her, as if she were holding him, and she says, “I really do love you, you know. For a long time, I think, but…”

“You think?”

“It took me too long to figure it out.”

“Well, I always knew, all these years! You’re cute and you’re my best friend, and I always knew there would never be anyone else for me!” he replies, sounding rather proud of himself. “I...oh, I just want to keep talking to you, but I…”

“You just landed,” she says, “you need to get going.”

“Right, right, but this isn’t over. I’ll talk to you again as soon as I can, but until then...would you like to be my girlfriend?” he asks, though they both know that it doesn’t need asking.

“Of course,” she replies, though they both already know her answer.

~X~

A long distance relationship isn’t as bad as she imagined it would be, and she expected to miss Hop quite a bit either way. Though it would be nice to be able to see him in person, and though she would like to be able to express her feelings for him in a more physical manner, just knowing that they’re together is enough for her right now. He finds time to call her whenever he can, and they text nearly constantly, so much so that she wonders how he hasn’t gotten in trouble for it yet.

She tells all of her curious friends and family about it first, then, with Hop’s permission, finally responds to the media, asking for a statement. Soon enough, everyone knows that they’re together, but that news dies down fairly quickly, and she can resume her normal life.

A little over a week into Hop’s trip, things feel just as blissful as they did on day one, but she does wish time would go a little more quickly. She wants to see him, more and more each day, and wonders when he will know a set date for coming back home. But other than her new relationship, everything in her life is surprisingly normal.

That is what makes it especially surprising when Leon calls her out of the blue, when she knows that he doesn’t have any fresh material to tease her over. When she answers, again asking him what he wants, he replies, “How would you like to go on vacation with me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, the next chapter will be available here next week!


	9. now that we know it, let's really show it

“What are you talking about?” Gloria asks, once she has managed to process what Leon has said to her. Take a vacation? With him? She has no idea what he’s trying to say, and immediately wonders if this is another means of messing with her.

Though she did inform her mother, Sonia, Marnie, and even Bede- who pretended not to care a bit- about what happened when she finally got to talk to Hop, she decided to let Hop talk to Leon, not just because they were family, but because she was still fairly put out, and didn’t care if he ended up having to hear about it from an article or something. Since he claims to be subscribed to both of their names, he would hear about it quickly either way, but now she wonders if he is trying to get back at her for not calling him by teasing her once again.

“I get to travel whenever I want now, really, I just don’t do it nearly as often as I should,” he says. “When you’re champion, you don’t get the luxury of just running off on vacation, but when you have the chance, you really should take it. I know you haven’t done much traveling recently, or even since you beat me all those years ago, so don’t you think it’s time?”

“Leon, what are you getting at?”

“I thought you would have that part worked out by now, Gloria. See, I have two tickets for a flight that leaves in a couple days, and I am at a loss as to who to bring with me,” he says. “Everyone I can think of is too busy. I mean, Sonia might be able to justify it, especially if it’s too check up on him, but I don’t know if I should drag her away from her work like that. Or if she would want to go on a trip with me to begin with.”

Unova. Leon is going out there to visit Hop, and he has called her to ask if she wants to go with him. He may be teasing her in the way that he asks, but she doesn’t think he would be cruel enough to tease her with the suggestion if it weren’t genuine. And it is true that she could use some time off, that she never takes the time to travel even though she sometimes has good chances to, and that she has even considered going to visit Hop, but decided against it. He told her one night that she shouldn’t let her focus slip during battles because she was thinking too much about him, that they should both put their work first right now, and that they would see each other soon enough.

She knew even then that what he really meant was that she distracted him so much that working was hard for  _ him _ , and that it had nothing to do with taking time off, but she still worried enough to decide not to go. But now she’s being presented with a trip, with the tickets already paid for, and it would be rude to turn him down…

“I even have lodging taken care of. I’ve got two hotel rooms booked, which might be a little excessive, I admit. I mean, I can probably stay with my family, so we might only need one,” he says. “Not that I think my family would turn you away, it’s just, you and Hop might need-”

“Stop!” she interrupts, feeling her face heat up at his words. “Don’t talk about your baby brother like that!”

“Like what?” he asks, trying to sound innocent. “I just meant you might want to go somewhere else in case you wanted some time away from family. What are  _ you _ talking about doing with my baby brother?”

Gloria groans, ready to tell him off, but she decides to refrain, not only because he is being nice enough to invite her along, but because she has not even taken the time to say that she wants to go. Obviously, she does, and she’s sure that she will be able to get away for at least a little while. Her schedule isn’t so full that she can’t move things around, and for Hop, that will be worth it.

“You’ve got a couple days to pack,” Leon continues, not giving her a chance to answer, perhaps deciding that he’s flustered her too much for her to speak. He makes the decision for her, not leaving her the option to stay home. “I’ll send you all the information. You can thank me later!”

But before he hangs up, she does manage a quick, “Thank you.”

~X~

The worst part of the trip is having to sit next to Leon for so long, who refuses to let her tune out when he tries to talk to her. He was gracious enough to give his ticket to her instead of someone else, he reminds her, so the least she could do is talk to him and help keep him entertained.

“I thought you said everyone else is busy,” she says with a wave of her hand. “You could have at least  _ tried _ asking Sonia.”

“What, so I could listen to her gush about getting to see my brother?” He laughs and shakes his head. “I think I could do without that. Come on, you know that was never an option, I always planned for it to be you.”

She wonders what the look on his face when she mentions a vacation with Sonia means, but decides to think about that one later. Perhaps a conversation with Sonia herself is in order before she actually tries to figure it out, but she hopes that this might give her an edge over Leon someday, to get back at him for all the relentless teasing her confession to Hop has earned her.

“You didn’t have to do that for me,” she replies.

“Well, you gave him quite the send-off, didn’t you? It seems a little cruel to both of you to just leave that hanging until he can come back home. Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Iris. I’m dying to see who’s the strongest between the two of us now,” he says. He tries to ask her questions about Hop, teasing her with things like, “When did you know you loved him?” or “What is it about him that you like so much?” but Gloria refuses to answer those questions, causing Leon to whine every time.

Hop has no idea that she’s coming. Though it has been hard keeping it a secret from him when they still talk often and she’s been so excited, Leon suggested it, and she agreed that it could be fun to surprise him. He is aware that Leon is visiting, and he and their cousin Iris should be waiting for them at the airport.

Gloria is nervous and impatient, wondering what Hop’s reaction will be when she gets there, and wondering how she should act around him now. So much has changed between them since the last time they saw each other in person, and though she knows it is silly to be nervous about seeing  _ Hop _ , she is also going to see her boyfriend for the first time, and that is something entirely different.

Even after they land, it feels like an eternity before they can get to where the two are waiting for them. Standing next to a young woman who bears a striking resemblance to him and his brother is Hop, grinning and waving at Leon. That is, until his eyes land on Gloria, and his mouth falls open in shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter will be posted nextFriday!!


	10. how about love?

Hop’s arms are around her as soon as he can reach her, pulling her in for a tight embrace. Gloria wraps her arms around him as well, burying her face against his shoulder and squeezing him to her. Hop has always been so warm and has always smelled so nice, and somehow it is all the more noticeable now. She’s missed him so much, and despite earlier nerves, she has no issue with holding him close like this; it just comes naturally.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, his voice low.

“I wanted to surprise you,” she replies. “Did it work?”

“I’ll say! Did you and Lee plan this behind my back?”

“He planned the whole thing and invited me along, but made me promise not to tell.”

“I’m just...I can’t believe you’re  _ here _ ,” he breathes, and it is only when she hears soft laughter that she even remembers that Hop wasn’t alone.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?” Iris asks. “You haven’t stopped talking about her since you got here!”

Hop stiffens, pulling back from the hug to say something, but Leon speaks up first. “Come on, let’s leave them alone for a little while. I’m sure they have a lot to get caught up on.” He winks as he leads his cousin away, leaving Hop and Gloria alone- mostly- for the first time in a very long time.

“Do you want to go somewhere?” Hop asks. “There are some places around here, not too far...we could hang out for a little while. I’m sure Lee can handle everything else, I mean...that might actually be expecting a lot from him, but he has Iris with him, so he should be fine.”

“Yeah, let’s...let’s go somewhere,” Gloria replies. They’ve spent a lot of time hanging out, but if she isn’t mistaken, this is going to be their first date. Hop hasn’t called it a date or anything, but if it’s the first time they spend time alone together after beginning a relationship, then that makes it a date. She thinks.

“Alright, but, before that…” Hop stands in front of her, staring her down, and she doesn’t know what to make of the look on his face. She doesn’t know what he’s thinking or what he’s doing or what she’s supposed to be waiting on, but this his hands are on her shoulders, and he’s pulling her in again, but this time, she can tell that it isn’t just for a hug.

There might be a handful of people, or even less than that, who recognize Gloria amongst the crowd, but she doubts that anyone in this airport cares that much about Galar gossip. It’s unlikely that most of the people even know who they are, or the significance of their reunion, or see this as anything more than a couple seeing each other for the first time after a while apart. Certainly, no one thinks it is noteworthy enough to snap a picture or take a video of this couple reuniting.

Nobody here knows that they’re witnessing the Galar champion and her former rival and best friend’s first kiss.

Gloria has fantasized about kissing Hop a lot lately, though she had no experience to base her fantasies off of. As it turns out, though she could not properly imagine it, she doubts any imagination could ever measure up to the real thing, and if it were up to her, they might never stop. The kiss doesn’t last very long, because of location and because they have other places to be, but she is left breathless and ecstatic, wondering it it’s possible to have fallen even more in love with Hop.

He holds her hand as they leave, walking side by side until they can get a ride to the nearest town. There isn’t much by the airport, but he says that there is a lot to do in town, and he can give her the grand tour of everything. When she asks him if this is where he’s staying or working, he grows sheepish and admits that he actually rarely comes out here, so he might be exaggerating a little bit.

“Then we can just figure it out together,” she says, causing Hop to grin, which in turn causes her to feel as though her heart might stop.

“I’ve missed you so much, Gloria. Talking on the phone with you, it doesn’t feel like you’re that far away, but not getting to see you has been torture! And now that you’re here, it only makes me realize just how bad it’s really been,” he says. “I’m so glad you came.”

“I’ve missed you too. It’s not easy, trying to get on without my best friend,” she replies, giving his hand a squeeze.

“I wish I’d told you sooner. I wish you’d told  _ me _ sooner, we could have been doing this all the time!”

“We kind of have been, you know? I don’t think that much will change, I mean...we already hung out all the time. Part of why I never realized I liked you was because we were already so close, I didn’t feel like anything was missing,” she says, though she’s told him that part before. She’s told him everything, especially about the moment that she realized she was in love with him.

“Well, yeah, but we couldn’t always do this.” And just like that, he stops in the middle of the street and kisses her again, with no concern for anyone watching. Perhaps later, when the newness has worn off, they’ll have some shame regarding how sickeningly romantic they’re being in public, but for now, Gloria could not be happier.

After spending so many hours on the phone, one would think they would have run out of things to talk about. After spending so many years as friends, one would think that they wouldn’t have anything left to say to each other. The only times they shut up when they’re together are when one of them kisses the other, which is fairly frequently, but not frequent enough to keep them silent for long.

Hop still has to work, so Gloria ends up spending some time getting to know his cousin, and spending time doing sightseeing with Leon, who pesters her quite a bit about Hop, until she turns the tables and pesters  _ him _ about Sonia. There is definitely more going on there than meets the eye.

The last few days of her vacation, Hop manages to get off of work so that they can spend as much time together as possible. It is the most fun that she’s ever had with Hop, and that title definitely has some stiff competition. He does stay with her in the hotel during that time, and though she knows Leon won’t let hear the end of  _ that _ on the flight home, she decides that it’s a small price to pay.

At the end of it all, it’s hard to say goodbye again, but she promises that she’ll be waiting back home. “Just as long as you promise to come back,” she says, and Hop laughs.

“Still afraid I’ll move here and forget all about you? Not a chance! I’ve got big plans back home, you know. Besides, I could never leave my best friend.”

And that’s the best part about it all, she thinks. Everything has felt natural with him since she confessed, and their friendship hasn’t seriously  _ changed _ , it’s just improved. Through it all, Hop is still her best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking through to the end! Next month, I'll be starting a new fic on Fridays, so keep an eye on my twitter for updates on that!

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in my writing updates, please follow my fanfiction twitter @WattStalf  
> 


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